This is another tea that people might think of as a flavored tea: that is, it's an oolong tea that is coated with a mixture of licorice and ginseng powder. 

 

I do not know of anyone who intentionally flavors tea with licorice and ginseng, though; the result is more medicinal, even if there is a fairly intense shock of licorice-like sweetness to it. I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, which is largely why I got it.

 

This is a great tea to have if you have a sore throat or a cold. It has a soothing quality to it, one that is both warm and maybe a little cooling. It's the kind of tea that you want to drink wrapped up in a blanket with a good book and some soup at the end of the day.

 

It's not particularly the kind of tea that I'd want to drink on a regular basis, but then, not every tea has to be that.

This is a link to Blue People oolong by Tea & Whisk for those who want to drink along.

I've tried to reply to everyone whose email address I had who sent filament gift cards from last week, but apparently the system doesn't tell me who is sending them! We were able to order enough filament to print 18,000 whistles to help our communities come together and defend ourselves nonviolently.

 

Thank you!

It's time for the second (of three) holiday giveaways. This time, I have two copies of the special edition of Chandra Wicke's gorgeous photography/coffee table book,The Happily Ever After Society--featuring beautiful photographs and interviews with tons of amazing, diverse authors. This edition has a slip cover and gorgeous floral endpapers. It's a lovely gift for the lover of romance in your life, which--let me point out--might very well be you.

 

I've thumbed through my personal edition and really love everything about it: the diversity, the chance to really see some of my favorite authors and to read their words. It's such a gorgeous project that is a love letter to the romance genre.

 

If you weren't able to get this when it was on the Kickstarter, I would love to share this beautiful work with you.

 

 

(1) Enter by sending an email to heasocietygiveaway@courtneymilan.com by December 7th, 2026 at midnight MST. One entry per person. Odds of winning are 2/however many people enter.

 

(2) No purchase necessary, or possible, for this giveaway.

 

(3) I am opening this giveaway up to international entries, with the understanding that if there are tariffs applied to the product, you agree to be responsible for them.

 

(4) Winners will be notified the week of December 7th, and will have 48 hours to respond with their address. If they do not do so within that time period, they forfeit their win and a new winner will be chosen.

 

Finally, this is not a rule, but if you don't win and you really want a copy, you can get your own at https://happilyeveraftersociety.com/.

Earlier this week, I finally got my estimate for health insurance for next year. (My husband does not get health insurance through his employment for a number of reasons, so I purchase it through a semi-complicated arrangement). I was hoping (ha ha ha ha, look at me) that it would at least be limited to a 20% increase, but no. It was 38%. Also, our individual deductibles went up by $1500.

 

If you are not from the US and do not understand this, what I am saying is that I am now spending $16,560 a year (compared to $11,988 last year), and this gives me almost no coverage until I spend an additional $6500 on health care, and yes, that is just me; my husband has a separate, additional $6500 deductible.

 

I was going to say, “I am not complaining about this,” but… I'm complaining about it. What I mean when I say, “I am not complaining about this” is “I know a lot of other people have it worse.” And also, I know people who have it better, who breathed a sigh of relief that their insurance was “only” 17% up, and that is also still complain-worthy. A 17% increase is a lot of money!

 

I was not directly subsidized care under the Affordable Care Act, which is the particular subsidy that was revoked by the GOP under Trump, making the cost of insurance skyrocket for some unlucky individuals by somewhere between 2x and 10x.

 

But millions of people are losing insurance because they can no longer afford care. And what that means is that the cost of insurance is increasing radically for everyone. Insurers assume that people who are basically healthy will not get insurance; this means their payer mix will be sicker. Thus, failing to subsidize insurance for everyone means that all of us have to pay more. We were all being indirectly subsidized by the Affordable Care Act, because expanding the risk pool makes insurance cheaper.

 

There is a very obvious lesson to be learned here as a country, but will the people in power learn it?

 

 

I sat down with my husband and we jiggered the budget here and fussed around there. (Part of the reason this newsletter is late is taking time to budget-jigger.) We were able to make this work, and most importantly, I was able to protect the budget item that is most important to me--which is, my ability to help out a little bit when I am able. Because that will be even more necessary as more and more people get crunched.

 

But I had to be a little creative to make things work. (You will hear more about some of this later.)

 

I am lucky that I had a budget that I could jigger in this fashion. I recognize that. A lot of people don't, and that is a sobering reality heading into the New Year.

 

This has definitely been a kick in the pants, and I suspect a lot of people have had their pants kicked by this. I'm sorry. We have got to change this.

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